Sangjun Roh

Sangjun Roh (b. 1976 in Seoul, Korea) received a BA in Environmental Sculpture at the University of Seoul in 2002 and a MFA at the Chelsea College of Arts in London in 2006. Roh’s art is characterized by meticulous craftsmanship of collected cardboard material torn with his hands and painted in watercolor. He creates scenes of people and landscapes drawn from reality and his imagination. A sudden feeling of pitiful bliss while at a funfair, or fleeing from the bustling city in search of a quiet vacation spot only to find oneself to be one of many to do the same, Roh portrays the cynical paradoxes of reality. This sort of hyperreality is a metaphor for the isolation and segregation, and a loss of individuality in the collective and systematized modern society.

Roh’s recent series focuses on introspection rather than perception. Expressed through a higher bird’s eye view of the world, the artist seeks distance from independent circumstances to view the world more abstractly, in the likes of a blackout. When clear visibility is obstructed, other senses are awakened. Roh aims to turn the spectator’s attention to himself or herself.